I had a nice long post yesterday and thought I saved the draft to finish later, only to return and it never saved! Back to the drawing board!

My rant goes all the way back to when my wife and I decided to get married. I was never crazy about my brother and sister in law(I have another brother and sister in law but they have little to do with any of the family) but I tolerated them because I'm nice like that. Then I received a call from my sister in law apologizing about not agreeing with her sister marrying me(I am black and my wife is white and Mexican). My wife found out from someone else and went off on her, so that is why she called to save face.

I continued to tolerate my sister in law over the years. I never was for her personality: materialistic, money hungry, judgemental(especially of homeless people), messy(as in creating drama), opportunistic, and sickeningly fake when the situation called for it. My brother in law on the other hand came across as a dopey oaf who's balls belonged to his wife as we put it. At times though he would lose his temper and have full blown man tantrums(mantrums). He garnered more sympathy than anything.

For years after being married and moving to my hometown in upstate NY, I pursued my dream of being a mechanical engineer. I would attend school full time and my wife worked full time. Money issues caused me to take a nearly two year hiatus to work full time. We ended moving to Houston, Texas where I continued my schooling. I was accepted into Lamar University for the Mechanical Engineering program, so we moved to Beaumont which was right by where my wife was born and raised. Two years ago I triumphantly earned my degree just as I promised my father. I had no job lined up at graduation and ended up working as a stocker at Lowe's until I was laid off by the spiteful store manager a year later.

Once that happened all hell broke loose. The unemployment benefits I earned didn't cover all the bills and we fell behind on rent. Eviction was imminent. We had a bad falling out with my sister in law over a post my brother in law made on Facebook. He admitted to be racist towards black people and my sister in law defended and made excuses for him. My two daughters were especially hurt because he was an uncle to them their entire lives. We cut ties with them immediately.

Then came a glimmer of hope. I was flown all expenses paid to New Hampshire to interview for a job there. We were already planning to move to nearby Maine to start over and stay with my wife's close childhood friend. We packed everything in the car and made the 30 hour drive there. However everything fell apart shortly after arrival. The employer I interviewed with decided to pass on me. There was a nasty falling out between us and my wife's friend which lead to an immediate cut of ties. To top it off, the house we were renting turned out to have been under foreclosure for almost two years. We were served a 48 hour order to vacate the premises. We had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

My sister and brother in law offered money and a place to stay if we returned to Houston. Differences were put aside in lieu of impending homelessness and we packed uo and drove back to Houston. All four of us(forgot to mention 3 cats and 5 small dogs that accompanied us) stayed in my brother and sister in law's two bedroom house. Things started cordially but by the passing week got progressively worse. There was tension in the house from feeling unwelcomed. I took a job at Whataburger(a Texas fast food chain) that I hated but we needed the money. My wife and oldest daughter started working at a call center and months later, I joined them.

There were numerous arguments and threats of being thrown out. My brither and sister in law played petty games such as messing with the hot water, only buying grocieries for themselves, and throwing our clean laundry on the couch. My wife reaches out to her sister to preserve their relationship, but we were collectively done with my brothef in law when he let loose with a racial slur during an argument.

Crazy huh? I know, and the story continues so stay tuned. Questions and comments are encouraged.